Council approves KENO funds requests

The Kimball City Council approved two requests for KENO funds and its annual budget at the Sept. 16 meeting.

The city council approved a budget for the coming fiscal year. The only issue brought to the council’s attention was the amount promised to the Welcome Center. The county had previously pledged $500 monthly and the city pledged $1,000 monthly. After the figures were known, the county decided to up their contribution to $1,000 monthly, at the same time the city chose to lower its payment. The lack of communication caused for some frustration. After Jo Caskey, the director of tourism, made it clear how vital the funding is from the city, the council agreed to continue its $1,000 monthly contribution.

The first application for KENO funds came from the Plains Historical Society. The group asked for funds in order to purchase a gate operator and the controls to go with it so that the old school and High School street might be more secure. The PHS asked the council for $4,000 in KENO funds so that they might have the funds in order to purchase this new gate system for the property.

“The way it will work is that there will be controls like that of a garage door opener that will open up the gates for the school. Only certain people will have controls, including the police,” said Glenn Felkins, Plains Historical Society Director.

Several city council members commended the Plains Historical Society on how good the fence for around the old high school looks.

“It really looks good and keeps our town looking good,” council member Kim Christensen said.

The council then approved the $4,000 for the fence equipment.

The second application for KENO funding came from Kelly Huff, who wants to put on a fall festival.

“This idea I have is specifically for younger families. The event I am planning will be at the event center on Nov. 1, which is a Saturday night, the day after Halloween. This event will be for families with younger children who may or may not be able to handle the trick or treating from door to door,” Huff said.

Huff’s idea spawned from her own experiences. She said she took her family out of town last year for Halloween to a fall festival in a neighboring city.

“I don’t want to do that. I want the people in our community to want to stay in our community for the holidays and I think that having a fall festival, where kids can trick-or-treat indoors out of the cold will be beneficial and instrumental to having people stay in the community,” Huff said.

Huff wants to have carnival games and activities in the event center along with booths set up by different organizations and businesses for the children to trick-or-treat at.

“I’m asking for $2,500 for candy and for food. I want to provide a meal for the families that do attend. We wanted to do something simple, but also something that we could make a lot of. So we decided to do a chili feed. So the money will go toward the food, the candy, and the paper ware and plastic ware,” Huff said.

Huff mentioned that she had already been in contact with several people around town who would be interested in helping. She contacted the 4-H club about using some carnival games that they had in storage.

“I just want to be able to start something that we can have in town, indoors. I know that with two younger children after about three houses trick-or-treating they’re done and they want to go in because it’s cold. Another thing is that if parents have to work on a Friday and they don’t get home until after five that doesn’t leave them much time to get their kids in their costume and out the door. I want to do this to help keep people local,” Huff said.

The council voted to approve the KENO funds for the fall festival, and members wished Huff luck with the project.

In upcoming items, there will be a joint Parks and Recreation Board and Operating Board meeting on Sept. 30.